Kochi: Kerala High Court has asked all the colleges in the state to install CCTV cameras in examination halls before the next academic year in view of the various instances of malpractices in exam halls, including the T.J. Jose copying case.
CCTV cameras in exam halls would certainly act as a deterrent for a student against indulging in the malpractices, the court observed.
Justice V. Chitambaresh issued the directive while disposing of a petition filed by Kerala Self-Financing Engineering College Mana-gements Association and All- Kerala Private Arts and Science Unaided College Management Association challenging the directions to install CCTV cameras.
The syndicate standing committee (examination) of the Mahatma Gandhi University had asked the colleges under it to install them.
The instruction of the registrar specified particular brands of CCTV cameras of a specified storage capacity and it was confined to the self- financing colleges.
The instruction further stipulated that the hard disk should be retained in the safe custody of the principal to be produced before the university as and when required, which the petitioners challenged.
“The necessity to install CCTV cameras in the examination halls has arisen in view of the reporting of rampant copying during the examinations. Students may perhaps misuse the liberty given by the invigilators and indulge in impersonation or copying from bits and score high marks. Students who take pains to study and write the examinations without indulging in such malpractices would end up getting lesser marks much to their disgust and frustration,” the court held.
The court said the external examinations conducted by the university should be free from all malpractices. “This is not to say that such CCTV cameras should function even for class internals or viva voce even though it may be insisted on for the external examinations,” the court said.
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